White Paper

The Challenge of Modernizing Special Library Systems

Ilene Slavick & David F. Smith

Over the years, library services and the library catalog have both changed dramatically. Special librarians, who have long had to accommodate non-traditional materials and journal literature, have found that the variety of materials and services that their users require have changed substantially as new technologies and tools have become de facto standards among their users. While they have always had to be assertive about disseminating key information to clients, they now have to look for new ways to distribute information that they know their users need and to help their users discover, almost by serendipity, materials that they might not know they need until they find them.

The library catalog, which was originally defined to meet the requirements of the MARC cataloging standard and circulation, has needed to become a tool for managing and delivering not only traditional library materials but also a myriad of new item types: word-processed documents, spreadsheets, PDFs, wav and midi, jpg and bmp, HTML and RSS feeds, Facebook and Twitter, websites and dozens of other forms in which strategic information now appears—often in full-text form with little or no traditional field structure. The typical integrated library systems were not intended to cover such a wide range of resources.

For many years, Cuadra’s special library clients used the built-in toolkit of Cuadra’s “STAR” software to create applications to suit their own data and perceived needs. The result was a cluster of successful but unique customer applications that each addressed essentially the same set of problems in somewhat different ways. The unintended result was that, since each application was unique, the effort required to take advantage of new STAR capabilities was daunting and many of these applications remained static. Cuadra’s development of the “STAR/Libraries” system, first offered in 1994, provided a ready-to-use application and made it easier for users to upgrade. However, even that system did not begin to provide for the full range of information resources that special libraries must manage today. That would require development of an entirely new system. With substantial inputs from its library clients, Cuadra undertook that development and, in early 2008, released “STAR Knowledge Center for Libraries.”

This new application and similar ones developed by other software vendors help to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of special libraries in a number of ways. For example, libraries can use RSS feeds and alerts generated out of the catalog to bypass the OPAC and push data out to library users. With an RSS feed from the library catalog, the user sees descriptions of content from the library collection that may be relevant to what he is working on—perhaps including materials that he never knew existed. With a robust system, smart hypertext search links—syntax for embedding catalog searches into HTML strings—can be embedded outside of the OPAC, e.g., on any page in an organization’s intranet or in emails, to incorporate precise retrieval of library materials into relevant parts
of an organization’s infrastructure.

The OPAC itself can include features that will make limiting a search set seem like a natural progression in exploring the retrieved set of resources. For instance, with systems such as STAR Knowledge Center for Libraries, library staff members can, at any time they choose, predefine search strategies called “Hot Topics” that users can execute with a single click. “Subject clusters”—links that show the number of times subject headings appear in a retrieved set—can be used as facets to limit a search. Reports, including relevancy-ranked reports, can include smart hypertext search links between items with same authors, publishers, subjects, journal or conference titles to guide users to additional relevant materials. All of these are examples of features that help users explore the library catalog to find the information they need without having to learn Boolean logic.

Since libraries are now responsible for so many different types of materials, it almost goes without saying that users expect the OPAC to provide for searching the full text of documents, viewing digital materials online, and placing requests for reference services and non-digitized content.

As Cuadra helps its library users migrate to STAR Knowledge Center for Libraries, new requirements continue to emerge, some of them—for example, support for laboratory notebook content or competitive intelligence information—from organizational units outside of the library, and library management must decide whether to regard such new requirements as a burden or as an opportunity.

An important side benefit of using an OPAC that facilitates retrieval of all types of materials and of delivering library content to users outside of the OPAC is that the library and its staff will become more visible to users—including managers who make funding decisions and who may not see the library as offering services and materials that are vital to the organization’s strategic needs. We all know that librarians have moved into new roles as new technologies and services are implemented. However, as we watch funding for libraries dwindle, it is clear that many of those who fund libraries have not fully recognized the new challenges and the changes that the libraries have been making to meet them.

Making the library’s resources accessible in ways that go far beyond what has been done in the past will not only help meet the expectations of today’s library users but will also assure that there is an appropriately funded library with professional staff for the library users of the future.

Cuadra offers ready-to-use solutions for archives, museum and photographic collections, competitive and market intelligence, library automation, publishing, records management, and vocabulary control. All of them are based on the same core technology, provide for fast, precise web-based retrieval, and are ready to integrate into our customers' own information environment.  www.cuadra.com